MI Cape Town players celebrate their SA20 triumph. Picture: SA20
They finished the 10-game league phase of the competition with seven wins and top of the points table. They won their qualifier with ease to advance to the final. And then, they hammered the defending champions, Sunrisers Eastern Cape, by 76 runs to win their first SA20 title.
MI Cape Town were a class apart in 2025 and on Saturday at the Wanderers it all came together perfectly for them to be crowned champions for the season.
They produced three of the top run-getters in Rassie van der Dussen (2nd, 393 runs), Ryan Rickelton (4th, 336 runs) and Dewald Brevis (6th, 291 runs) while three of their bowlers finished the campaign in the top 10 wicket-takers list as well, namely Kagiso Rabada (7th, 12 wickets), Rashid Khan (9th, 12 wickets) and Corbin Bosch (10th, 11 wickets).
Reeza Hendricks, George Linde, Delano Potgieter, Connor Esterhuizen and New Zealander Trent Boult also made significant contributions throughout the campaign.
On Saturday in the final at the Wanderers it required a team effort, with several batters and bowlers having to perform, to get MI Cape Town over the line. After positing an imposing 181/8 in their 20 overs, the Capetonians bowled out Sunrisers for 105.
“Coming from two tough years, finishing bottom of the table, to topping the table, winning this competition is very special,” said captain Khan.
“Everyone responded well throughout the campaign. I’m so happy for the team, they deserve this.
“Everyone played their part for what the team needed, everyone contributed, and I think that played a huge role throughout the tournament.”
In Saturday’s final, there were again top contributions from Van der Dussen, Rickelton, Brevis and Linde, while Esterhuizen scored a quality 39 off 26 to be the glue to keep the batting innings together.
Rabada picked up four wickets for 25 in 3.4 overs while Boult got 2/9 in four, Linde 2/20 in four and Khan and Bosch each picked up a wicket.
Sunrisers captain Aiden Markram admitted his team fell short in the final after a tough season.
“MI Cape Town deserve this, they’ve been the best team throughout the competition, so congratulations to them,” he said.
Markram finished third in the run-scorers list with 340 runs, while three bowlers made the top 10 for wicket-talers, namely Marco Jansen (1st, 19 wickets), who was also named player of the competition, Liam Dawson (3rd, 14 wickets) and Richard Gleeson (4th, 14 wickets).
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